Gio Kusanagi Project Presents Prayer for Earth 2016

Gio Kusanagi Project will premiere “Prayer for Earth 2016” at CRS on March 26, 2016 at 8 pm. Gio Kusanagi is the artistic director as well as the choreographer/dancer and his solo-dance will be accompanied by Helen Comber’s singing and piano. This evening-length-dance-theater will include Gio’s unique and wide range of dance vocabularies, based on American modern dance, jazz dance, ballet, martial arts, and Butoh dance (Japanese avant-garde dance), along with live music and responsive singing between Helen and Gio in the format of short musical-type-acting.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door and are available online, by phone (212-677-8621) and at CRS.

The story includes the notion that the fundamental solution to the contemporary world problems is our retrieval of inner connectivity to the earth itself. Audience members will be invited to share their concerns about the contemporary world through brief writing at the beginning of the show and their prayers will be incorporated into the performance as the focal point of intention. This is a socially-engaged-evening-long-theater with a brief but essential element of audience participation, and appropriate for all ages.

Gio Kusanagi (choreographer/performer) is an interpretive dancer/performance artist who is a native of Japan. He studied Butoh (Japanese avant-garde dance) with Moe Yamamoto, Toru Iwashita, Kunisuke Kamiryo, Yoshito Ohno (son of Kazuo Ohno), Yukio Waguri, Seisaku & Yuri, Ko Muroboshi, and Kayo Mikami; a Butoh-inspired interpretive dance with Akira Kasai; Japanese sword dance with Kensei Namiki; traditional style swordsmanship with Ken Morita; Ballet at various dance schools including Morgantown Dance Studio, Modern Dance with Bill Evans, Kista Tucker, Don Halquis, Angela Dennis, Kristina Isabella, and Pilobolous Dance Company; Jazz Dance with Liz Rossi; Contact Improvisation with Jordan Fuchs and Contact Improvisation groups in Philladelphia; Break Dance at Harajuku Dance Academy; Central Asian Dance, Persian Dance, and Middle Eastern Dance with Narah Bint Durr; West African Dance with Jonathan Burbank; and Eurythmy (a form of modern dance founded by Rudolf Steiner) with both Akira Kasai and with Jolanda Frischknecht. He was also trained in Mime, Laban Movements Analysis (Bill Evans and Kista Tucker), Bartenieff Fundamental (Bill Evans and Don Halquis), Alexander Technique (Suzanne Oliiver), Qigong, Tai Chi, and various other forms of martial arts. He has integrated the essences of all the movement-arts he has learned and performs originally choreographed interpretive dance repertories in collaboration with artists of various disciplines. Gio also teaches classes and workshops on Butoh dance, Tai Chi, Qigong, and dance therapy for self-exploration through various locations in West Virginia, Maryland, and New York. Further, he has produced multiple dance theaters in various cities, including, but were not limited to NYC, Dayton OH, Cincinnati OH, and Morgantown WV.

Helen Comber, soprano, received degrees in Music Education from the Pennsylvania State University (B.S.) and West Virginia University (M.M). Helen is the artistic director of the Morgantown Children’s Choir, an elementary music educator, private piano and voice instructor, and church musician.